


Consider the Stay

by angellwings



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friendship, Friendship/Love, One Shot, Possible Spoilers, S8E18 I’ll Cover You, S8E19 Light Things Up, Speculation, Supportive Matt Casey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23426263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: [Brettsey] [One Shot] A possible path 8x19 could take after the ending of 8x18.
Relationships: Sylvie Brett/Matthew Casey
Comments: 36
Kudos: 177





	Consider the Stay

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:**  
>  Okay, so ‘Wherever, Whatever’ showed you guys one possibility of what could happen BUT the promo’s come out since then and it shows Sylvie on shift right after Julie died so now I have a totally DIFFERENT idea. On 4/8 BOTH will probably be wrong, but my brain won’t let it be. So...HERE WE GO.
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> Angellwings
> 
> PS - this started as spec fic but quickly became less about predicting the episode and more about Matt coming to terms with BIG FEELS and past pain. So the show will definitely not go THIS DEEP. If they do I will FOREVER BLESS THEM.

* * *

“It's addictive the minute you let yourself think,

The things that I say just might matter to someone.

All of this time,

I've been keeping my mind on the running away,

And for the first time I think I'd consider the stay.”

-“You Matter to Me” by Sara Bareilles (ft. Jason Mraz)

* * *

  
Sylvie came back out from seeing the baby and sent him away. Well, not really _away_ , but she did give him a task. She was starving and the stress, grief, and adrenaline could only hold off her appetite for so long. So, he was sent away with a mission of bringing back food while she waited on Scott. Sylvie wanted to be there when the doctor explained it all to him. She thought he might need the moral support. 

He’d picked up the food (from one of Sylvie’s favorite places) and was getting back in his truck when his phone lit up with a new message.

_“Forget the food. Would you mind coming back and picking me up?”_

His brow dramatically furrows as he reads those words. Pick her up? He assumed she would insist on staying the night in that uncomfortable waiting room. He was so confident that he was already mentally preparing to keep her company. So this request throws him for a loop.

_“Of course. Everything okay?”_

_“Thank you. I’ll catch you up when you get here.”_

That doesn’t sound encouraging. Catch him up on _what_? 

He runs the possibilities in his head the whole drive over, and none of them are good. Scott should definitely be there by now so any change in the situation would have to be related to him. The memory of Sylvie’s expression after having the door slammed in her face springs to mind and his chest starts to ache. Surely Scott wouldn’t try to shut Sylvie out _again_ , would he?

She’s waiting outside when he pulls up and doesn’t hesitate a moment to open his passenger side door and climb inside. Her posture is stiff and her face is schooled in a blank expression that purposefully tells him _nothing_. 

“Thanks for this,” she says hurriedly. 

“I, uh—you’re welcome,” he stammers. He doesn’t know how to react to this emotionally neutral version of her. He points to the paper bags of take out on his middle seat as he puts the truck in drive again. “I’d already picked up the food so...hope you’re still hungry.”

“Um, maybe later,” she says as she looks away from him to fiddle with her watchband. “Let’s just get out of here.”

He gives her a small nod and then drives away. 

“Everything okay?” He asks reluctantly. She doesn’t look very eager to share right now. It worries him.

“Yeah, the baby’s great. Scott’s got it all handled,” she tells him with a bland expression. She shifts in her seat as if she’s uncomfortable and tucks her hair behind her ears. 

Maybe he’s making too much out of this. Maybe this is just her way of holding it together. Maybe the pit of concern growing in his stomach is all for nothing. He decides a different approach is worth a try.

“Am I taking you home so you can change and rest a little and come back?” He prods. She breathes deeply as if trying to remain calm but doesn’t answer him. So, he keeps going. “It seems to me like Scott might need the help—“

She interrupts him with a soft, “I can’t.”

It’s so soft that he’s not entirely sure she actually said it. “You what?” He asks, to clarify.

Her chin quivers slightly and she chews on the inside of her lip before she tries again in a louder voice. “I can’t,” she tells him. “He sent me away.”

The pit of concern was definitely not for nothing. “He sent you away?”

“He…” She trails off and swallows thickly while doing her best to avoid his eyes. “He doesn’t want me in his life or the baby’s. I was Julie’s daughter not his. So--he doesn’t think I should--” she cuts her sentence short and closes her eyes tightly. “Basically, he doesn’t want me around. That’s all there is to it.”

That’s all there is to it? Fuck, no, that’s not all there is to it.

“I don’t understand,” Matt says in confusion as he tries to keep his focus on the road and not the broken look on Sylvie’s face.

“That makes two of us,” she says with a dark watery grin. “Although, I feel like I should have seen this coming. It’s not like he’s ever been my biggest fan.”

“What does it matter if he’s a _fan_?” Matt asks, a little of his own anger slipping through. “Julie loved you. She wanted you to know your sister -- to be a part of her family.”

“Yeah,” she agrees as she pulls her sleeves over her hands and studies them. “But Julie’s gone. It’s not up to her anymore.”

He feels his head shaking before he realizes he's doing it. He finds the nearest parking lot and pulls over, only to look down and notice his hands have a white knuckle grip on the wheel as he comes to a stop. He pries one hand off the wheel to shift the truck into park and cuts the engine.

“What are you doing?” Sylvie asks. “Matt, please, I just want to go home.”

“I’m going to take you home,” he promises. “But I have something to say first.”

“If you’re going to tell me to fight him on it then I’m going to stop you now,” she says with a shaky tearful sigh. “I just don’t think I can do it. And he’s the baby’s _father_! I’m nothing. Just the half sister they met a few weeks ago.” A lone tear falls down her cheek and she furiously wipes at it with her sleeve. “I’m tired and I’m heartbroken and I just want to go back to yesterday where I thought everything was coming together.”

“Sylvie,” Matt says with an emotional gulp. He can hear her sadness and her exhaustion in every word she says, but he can’t let her think that this is okay. That this is unchangeable. “You’re not nothing. You cared about Julie and you care about your sister too. Scott doesn’t get to come between that. But I hear you. Asking for what you want isn’t easy -- especially when you don’t think you’re likely to get it.”

“I was really beginning to believe she wouldn’t disappear,” Sylvie says as her expression pinches in pain. “And now that she has...what do I have left of her, Matt? The paint samples she left on my kitchen table? A handful of text messages and emails? She may be my mother but Scott’s right. I’m not her daughter. Not really. I don’t know that I have the right to ask for _anything_.”

“That’s just not true,” he assures her with a sympathetic glance. “She sought you out for a reason. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t--”

“Please, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Casey, but just _stop_.”

And just like that he does. He _stops_. He stops talking. He stops looking at her. He just _stops._ Sure, the interruption was abrupt but it’s the way she says his last name that catches him off guard. It’s cold, clipped -- _final_. The topic is closed and she has no plans of revisiting it.

Not today, anyway.

There’s silence in the truck as he tries to digest the sudden way she shut him out. She’s never done that before. He doesn’t like it. But does he tell her this? No, of course not, that would mean acknowledging his own feelings which he knows he’s fucking _shit_ at doing.

“Can you just...take me home?” She asks in a quiet apologetic voice. “ _Please?_ ”

That’s the second time she’s said please in as many minutes. They both know he’s not going to refuse her again.

“Yeah,” he mutters. “Yeah, okay.”

* * *

The loft door closes behind him with more force than he intended. He knows he shouldn’t be angry. Brett’s emotions were running high and he pushed, maybe a little too much. Grief does strange things to a person. He knows that better than most, unfortunately. Even the most logical people can react rashly when faced with pain that intense.

“Damn,” Kelly says as he walks into the living room. “The last person to slam the door that hard was Stella. You’re not being forced to work with Seager too, are you?”

“What?” Matt asks irritably.

“Nevermind,” Severide says with a scoff and a smirk. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” he lies.

He tosses his keys onto the counter and stomps over to the fridge.

“Yeah, you’re fine,” Kelly replies sarcastically. “Who pissed you off?”

Matt grabs a beer and opens it against the counter top. Again, with excessive force. “Some guy named Scott.”

“Okay. Do I know this guy named Scott?” 

“No and I don’t expect you ever will,” Matt says with a huff as he walks over to the couch and sits down.

Severide crosses his arms over his chest and gives Matt a no bullshit glare. He’s done with half answers and vague hints. “What the hell happened?”

Matt sighs as the concern that’s been eating at his gut all evening returns. He sits up, puts the beer on the coffee table, and then rests his elbows on his knees. He runs a hand across his chin and shakes his head — hoping against hope to shake away his worry over Brett.

“61 took Brett’s birth mom to the hospital toward the end of shift, remember?” Matt asks, knowing he had to have heard the call over the radio.

“I already don’t like the start of this story,” Kelly says as he leans back against the kitchen island. “But yeah, I remember.”

“There were complications. The baby’s fine but Julie...I was there when Patchefsky told Brett and her face—” He stops short and closes his eyes against the memories.

“Are you telling me... _Jesus Christ_. Are you telling me that Brett’s birth mom _died_?” He asks, sounding as appalled as Matt feels. “During _childbirth_?”

He nods. “I—I encouraged her to go see the baby. _Me_. She looked at me like she didn’t know if she should and I—“ Guilt overwhelms him and he fists his hands through his anger at himself. “But I never thought that Julie’s husband would keep Sylvie from her sister. Who the _fuck_ does that? And then Sylvie spent most of the ride home justifying. Like she deserved it, somehow.”

Severide scoffs and shakes his head, sharing Matt’s disbelief. “How the hell would Brett of all people deserve that? She’s the most caring and _least_ self centered person in all of Chicago — present company excluded, that is.”

“I know it’s her business and I should let her handle it but a huge part of me wants to go back to that hospital and rip Scott a new one. Sylvie is... _good_. Too damn good. And she doesn’t deserve to be made to feel as if—as if she doesn’t matter. And this _asshole_ just succeeded at exactly that.”

One of Kelly’s eyebrows lifts in interest. “Scott? That’s Julie’s husband’s name?”

“Yes, that’s right. He’s the guy that pissed me off. Well, him and one other thing. But _mostly_ him,” Matt confesses as he scrubs a hand over the short hair at the back of his neck.

“What’s the other thing?” Severide asks.

He swallows thickly and debates brushing off the question, but it’s bugging the hell out of him and he _has_ to say it. He clearly couldn’t say it to Brett earlier. But maybe…

“She shut me out,” Matt croaks out with a thick swallow. “I tried to talk to her and she shut me out.”

Kelly gives him a measured stare, as if he thinks he understands but needs clarification. “Who? Brett?”

Matt gives him a flat look and refuses to answer. 

“Hey, just making sure,” Severide says with a crooked grin and his hands palms out in a gesture meant to placate him. “Look, you know Brett better than I do at this point,” he tells him. “But I wouldn’t take it too personally. She found Julie _and_ lost her in a matter of weeks. I’m not the most sensitive guy on the planet but even I know that’s gotta lead to some seriously traumatic emotional whiplash. Maybe she just needed some time to process on her own.”

He’s sure Kelly is right, but still…

“She’s never shut me out before.”

“Seriously?” Severide asks with a dry chuckle. “You’re as tightlipped as they come and you’re mad at her for not wanting to pour out her heart the very day her mother died?”

Matt winces. When he says it like that…

“I know. I know. I’m a selfish bastard. I get it.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Kelly says with an eyeroll. “That is not what I meant, dumbass. I just meant give her a minute. If you’re worried about her pulling a Dawson you can stop. Sylvie isn’t Gabby. She doesn’t hide things very often and she never runs away from a conflict. It’s like I said, she’s the most caring and least self centered person in Chicago. She’ll find you when she’s ready.”

“This has nothing to do with Gabby,” Matt replies in confusion. “Why would you think—“

“It has everything to do with Gabby. Gabby was my friend but when it comes down to it, it’s your back I’m watching every damn time not hers. Maybe you didn’t tell me everything but I watched it go down. You wanna talk about someone who shut you out? _Gabby_ shut you out.” Severide motions to Matt’s sulking posture and gives him a slight grin. “And _this_ right here is a natural reaction to fear. You don’t get afraid, you worry and then get pissed. I’ve seen it a hundred times. So, yeah, this has everything to do with Gabby. You’re worried history’s gonna repeat itself.” He pauses and then moves to sit down next to him. “It _won’t_.”

Matt looks at Severide for a long considering moment while he processes his words. Is that really what this is? That can’t be what this is because if that’s what this is then that would mean—

That would mean Sylvie means a hell of a lot more to him than he’s led himself to believe.

But the longer he thinks about Severide’s words the more they make sense. His anger is less about Brett and more about how _afraid_ he is. He’s afraid that no matter how he tries, he will _always_ be locked out when it comes to the people he cares deeply about. That pool of people now includes Sylvie Brett.

Except, imagining Sylvie never really letting him in hurts a hell of a lot more than it ever did with Gabby. He’s not exactly sure why that is yet. He has his suspicions but he’s reluctant to name them.

His anger fades and is gradually replaced by shock. The deeper he examines his feelings, the more clearly he sees what he wants. He wants Sylvie. She’s been sneaking up on him for longer than he realized, but there’s no denying it now. If he didn’t feel intensely about her then he wouldn’t have gotten so riled up. 

“Holy shit,” Matt mutters with a stunned expression.

Severide snorts derisively. “Penny finally dropped, did it?”

He glares at Kelly. “You _knew_?”

One of his shoulders lifts carelessly as he chuckles. “You _didn’t_?”

“No! I mean a few times she intruded on my thoughts when she shouldn’t and I’ve definitely been noticing things about her I didn’t notice before but I didn’t think— _holy shit._ ”

“You said that already,” Severide says with a smirk.

“Get the fuck out,” Matt declares dryly as he points to Kelly’s bedroom door.

Severide laughs quietly and stands from the couch. “Alright, alright. I’ll shut up.”

As huge as this realization is, now is not the moment to do anything with it. Severide was right earlier. Sylvie’s facing a lot right now. Julie appeared suddenly and was taken away just as suddenly. Sylvie spent all day waiting for news, waiting for Scott, and then waiting for _him_ with probably no time to process anything herself. She would come to him when she was ready. She always has before. He has no reason, apart from his own insecurities, to think this time will be any different. Realizing how he feels doesn’t change what he knows of their _current_ friendship. Now, he just has to wait. 

Even if it kills him.

Matt huffs and reaches for his beer again before setting his phone down on the coffee table face up. 

“Is there a game or something on?” He asks Severide in weary aggravation.

“Need a distraction?” Kelly asks, knowingly, as he turns on the television and starts flipping through channels.

As he starts to reply he realizes his phone is still on silent and reaches for it. He knows he sounds preoccupied when he finally answers, “yeah.”

He turns the ringer on, almost full volume, and sets it back down. She once offered to leave her ringer on for him. He figures he owes her in kind. If she decides she needs him tonight, he won’t miss her call.

* * *

He spent the day after picking Sylvie up at the hospital purposefully buried in work. If he hadn’t he would have spent it obsessively checking his phone instead. He expects his shift to work the same way. He’ll focus on that so he’s not watching and waiting for Sylvie to reach out. He has no illusions that she’ll show up to work. Hopefully, Scott came to his senses and has reached out to her with an apology for being an ass by now and Sylvie’s spending the day with him and the baby. 

He leaves early and figures he can get a jump on a few boring administrative things before everyone arrives for their shift -- maybe find out what relief paramedic Boden called and warn Foster.

After he changes clothes and drops off a few things in his quarters, he makes a beeline to Boden’s office. He’s eager to know if the Chief has heard from Brett since he hasn’t. But as he rounds the corner into the bullpen, he stops short. Sylvie’s already here — meeting with Boden.

The door opens and he can just make out the end of their conversation.

“I can get you the new Chaplain’s information if you feel you might—“

The sound of Sylvie’s nervous laughter makes him grin despite the anxious nerves swirling in his gut.

“No, no. No Chaplain. I’ll be fine. I really just want to get back to work, Chief.”

Back to work? Already?

“If you’re sure?” Boden asks, concern evident in his voice.

“I’m sure. More than anything I need something to focus on right now,” she admits. “Besides there’s nowhere I’d rather be than with family.”

If there’s ever a way to get Boden to cave when he has doubts, it’s to call 51 a family. He’s sure Sylvie means it, but he’s also sure she’s too smart for her own good. She knows he’ll be too honored to argue. 

“Fair enough,” Boden says with a rare almost-smile. “Foster will be happy not to have a relief medic filling your spot. That’s for certain.”

“Happy to save you the headache, Chief,” Sylvie says with a weak smile. “Anything else you need?”

“No. That’ll be all, Brett. I’ll let you get to work.”

She turns away from Boden’s open door and freezes before she can take another step. She wasn’t expecting to see him as much as he wasn’t expecting to see her.

“Matt,” she says as she sucks in a surprised breath. “You’re early.”

He nods and catches her eye across the empty bullpen. “So are you.”

“I’ve got reports from last shift to catch up on,” she says as if that explains everything.

He’s so caught up in her that he forgets Boden’s still watching them. 

“Did you need something, Casey?” He asks.

“I—Well, I was going to ask about a relief medic but I see now we don’t need one. So, no. I don’t need anything, Chief.”

With that, Boden nods and retreats back into his office — leaving the two of them to walk away from the bullpen together.

It’s awkward. It’s oh so awkward. Why is it awkward? He knows why _he’s_ awkward. He realized he’s well on his way to being in love with her and he has no goddamn clue what to do about. But why is _she_ awkward?

She fiddles with her watch band as they walk, a nervous habit he knows well by now, and then says, “I’m sorry, Matt.”

“For what?” He asks with a furrowed brow.

“For snapping at you the other day — for pushing you away...I—I just wasn’t ready to start brainstorming solutions right then. But I should have told you that instead of shutting you down so rudely,” Sylvie apologizes while protectively wrapping her arms around herself. “I know you only wanted to help.”

“That goes both ways,” he admits. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have pushed. It’s understandable that you would need time to process on your own, Sylvie. I should have waited for you to come to me — I mean if you ever wanted to that is.”

She turns her face toward his with a fond smile and a grateful glance. “I want to,” she confesses. “I want to come to you, Matt. Why else would I have texted you when things with Julie were so uncertain?”

He breathes a sigh of relief and feels some of his worry lift away. “Good. I—I want you to come to me too. It means a lot to me whenever you do. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that...but it does.”

“Really?” She asks self consciously as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re not tired of my whining after all of this? I mean, _I’m_ a little tired of me. So, I’d get it.”

He chuckles dryly and shakes his head at her. “You don’t whine, and, trust me, I’m definitely not tired of you. Chances of that are slim to none.”

Oops, that might have been too much. Was that too much? Is he being obvious? Oh, _fuck_. Chill out, Casey. _Relax_.

Change the topic. Change. The. Topic. Before you embarrass yourself any further.

“So, how are you doing with everything?” He asks, nervously. “I mean, if you feel like sharing.”

She bites the inside of her bottom lip before she looks up at him with watery eyes. “Actually, I—those things I wasn’t ready to talk about before? I’d like to talk about them now. I just need to change and get ready for shift first. Can I...can I meet you in your quarters in a few minutes?”

“Yes! Sure, absolutely,” he agrees immediately. “Come find me when you need me.”

* * *

Close to ten minutes later, Sylvie steps into his quarters and shuts the door behind her. She sits on the foot of his cot, with one leg tucked underneath her, and sighs. That sigh sounds weary and emotionally spent. The concern he’d felt as he picked her up from the hospital flares again. She doesn’t wait for him to prompt her or ask any questions, she just _goes_. 

This isn’t the time, but he thinks he’ll have to tell Severide he was right. She’s found him now that she’s ready. She’s letting herself be an open book for him.

“Julie’s funeral was yesterday,” she states. “I went.”

“Alone?” He asks with a furrowed brow.

For a moment, a fond smile is aimed at him before her sober expression returns. “No, actually, my parents came down for the day to go with me. They never had a chance to meet her but they, um—“ She swallows thickly but she can’t stop her next words from sounding heavy with unshed tears. “They wanted to thank her for giving me to them and pay their respects. It was very sweet.”

She lifts a hand and wipes the heel of it across her eyes, one eye at a time. “Anyway, afterward, Scott asked to speak with me.”

Matt tenses and prepares to be angry on her behalf.

“He apologized. He said he wasn’t thinking clearly at the hospital and that he usually had Julie to rein in his emotional reactions but now...well, now he doesn’t and he’s having a hard time figuring it out on his own. He said if Julie considered me part of the family then, that’s exactly what I am — _if_ that’s what I still want.”

Matt feels even more relief and a _lot_ of surprise. He’d hoped for that outcome but even he thought that was a long shot. He’s happy to be wrong. “That’s good.”

“I suppose but...is that still what I want?” Her brow crinkles in the middle — in a way that causes a soreness in his chest. “What if I get attached to that beautiful baby girl and Scott pulls this again? I’m not a parent. It’s not like I have legal rights. I—I’m worried that I’m setting myself up for more heartbreak down the line. That I’ll come close and have it all ripped right out of my hands again.”

She rushed through the words as if trying to say them before the tears gathering in her lashes actually fell.

“I don’t know if I could handle a repeat of that kind of pain,” she adds softly. “I was just starting to let myself believe that Julie would be sticking around and then…” she trails off as a few tears slip out and then swipes her sleeve across her eyes. “I know I’m only that baby’s half sister but if I grow to love her more than I already do and I lose her too — I don’t want to go through this again.”

He stands from his chair, closes the blinds, and then sits down on the cot on her other side.

“So, you’re thinking about walking away? Before you get too close?” He asks. He’s careful to keep his tone as even as possible. He’s genuinely shocked when she nods, though he works hard not to show it.

Sylvie’s spent almost her entire career being accused of getting too attached — of never being able to simply walk away. Other people see it as a weakness but he sees it for what it is — the quality that makes her truly _exceptional_ at her job. Even before he ever came close to having feelings for her he thought that. Developing a... _crush_ on her certainly hasn’t changed that opinion.

If she can’t, in good conscience, walk away from a patient then he can’t imagine her being able to walk away from a motherless child who might need her. But maybe this isn’t really about the decision. He sees fear in her eyes but it has a bit of wild desperation to it and he thinks maybe this is less about making a choice and more about being reassured.

He takes a deep breath. He knows what he needs to do, and it’s something he hasn’t done in a long time. He needs to open up — to talk about his messy past. If his old scars can help keep her from creating new ones then he _wants_ to help.

“You do what feels best for you, Sylvie, but...I can tell you for damn certain that if I had a chance to go back and have Louie all over again, even knowing how it ended, I wouldn’t hesitate a second. It hurt like hell to give him up, but I wouldn’t trade a single moment I had with him for anything in the world.” 

Same goes for The Darden boys but that’s a more complicated story than he really wants to tell right now. Though, he realizes in surprise, he does genuinely want to tell Sylvie that story someday. He...wants to tell her _everything_ — even his hurts and failures.

She gulps, nods slowly, and then reaches for his hand. Her hand grabs his and squeezes.

“Thank you, Matt.”

The look in her eyes tells him she knows _exactly_ how difficult that was for him.

“Anytime. Hopefully, I actually helped.”

“You did. You’ve given plenty to think about,” she assures him. “Thank you, again, for listening.”

He’s hit with the sudden urge to lift the hand he holds to his lips. He doesn’t do it. He’s afraid it might be too forward, but _holy shit_ he wants to. _Badly_. 

“Happy to listen anytime you need an ear,” he promises. 

Her sad smile turns wholeheartedly affectionate a moment before her arms go around him in a hug. He wasn’t expecting it but he immediately reciprocates. He holds her closer and rubs a hand across her back. This hug is lingering, he thinks. They’ve never quite hugged for this long. He has no plans to complain. Especially not when he gets a big whiff of whatever tropical scented shampoo she uses. She fits in his arms and against his chest, he notes. Like she’s meant to be there. He could stay just like that for at least another half hour, but she’s pulling away from him all too soon.

She stands from the cot as she speaks. “Alright, well, I really am behind on reports so I should get to it,” she says reluctantly. “And I’m sure you have plenty to do too so I’ll go and let you do that.”

If he’s honest he doesn’t want her to go, but he also doesn’t have a real reason to stop her either. “Yeah, of course, let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will,” she swears. 

And then she’s gone and he’s left behind with the realization that he’s in deeper than he originally thought. He wants to tell her that, but it’s been so long since he’s felt anything _like this_ that he doesn’t know _how_. His instincts tell him he needs a plan but after a thoughtful beat he pushes that aside.

No. No, plan. So far everything with Sylvie has felt organic — as if something about them is inevitable. Why change that now? He doesn’t need a _plan_. For once in his life he needs to go with the flow and handle things as they come. 

The most important thing is that he knows how he feels and what he wants so that when his moment presents itself he won’t miss it. 

And with Cruz’s wedding quickly approaching — the first genuinely happy occasion the house has gotten to celebrate in a long time — who knows what might happen? His moment might come sooner rather than later. 

But for today he’ll focus on being there for her when she needs him. Anytime, any place. 


End file.
